Sticking to his guns on pushing for a wall between the United States and Mexico, President Donald Trump will speak to the nation Tuesday evening, then take his show on the road as the partial government shutdown grinds on and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continue to, well, not talk.

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Trump tweeted Monday that he would “Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern.”

Where will he be speaking?

Details remain sparse. While the speech apparently will take place in the Oval Office, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that Trump also would travel to the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday to further press his case for a wall. On Tuesday, CNN quote unnamed senior officials in the Trump administration saying the president’s remarks will be no more than “seven or eight minutes” long.

Where will he go on the border?

Although the White House has not yet released details on the site of Trump’s visit, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice that airspace in the McAllen, Texas, area would be restricted Thursday due to a “VIP movement.”

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Is there any special significance of this location?

Plenty. This border town of 142,000 serves as the base for a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility that is housing migrants who were apprehended after crossing into the country illegally. Also, first lady Melania Trump paid a visit in June to a shelter for migrant children in McAllen.

Why is he doing this?

With a backdrop of a nation now in a partial government shutdown since Dec. 22, the president has dug in his heels, insisting that any funding bill from Congress to reopen federal agencies include $5.7 billion for his border wall. If he was hoping to grab the country’s attention to make his pitch, he has succeeded in spades.

Will this be his first visit to the border?

No. Trump made his first trip to the border as president 10 months ago when he inspected 30-foot-tall steel-and-concrete mock-ups for a new border wall in California, a barrier he says is necessary to stop what he sees as an invading force of migrants, including alleged ”terrorists,” from the south.

Which television networks will carry Trump’s address Tuesday evening?

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox broadcasting, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and MSNBC all said they would air the address. They also will air the Democratic response to the president from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will stream his own response on YouTube at 9:30 EST. Adult film star Stormy Daniels, who has been a public foil of Trump since their reported affair, tweeted that she would be folding laundry in her underwear live on her Instagram account at the same time as Trump’s speech.

Is there any progress being made to find a compromise deal on giving Trump his wall while reopening shuttered government agencies?

Depends on who you ask. In a tweet Sunday night, Trump described the ongoing negotiations with Democrats as “productive” and he declared that “we are now planning a Steel Barrier rather than concrete.” But Democrats have denied that any progress was made over the weekend, largely due to the fact that they believe the White House has not been forthcoming about how the money would be used or why the administration is now asking for much more wall funding than they’d sought just a few months ago.

Yes. On Tuesday afternoon, Trump announced that he would meet with Congressional leadership at the White House on Wednesday to continue discussions on getting the government reopened, according to GOP sources who spoke with The Hill. “Lawmakers are expected to gather with administration officials in the Situation Room as parties remain at an impasse over funding for Trump’s border wall, two leadership aides confirmed,” according to the report. “Democratic sources have not confirmed attendance, but top Republicans said Democratic leaders have agreed to attend the meeting.”

What’s the backstory with Trump’s recent claims that a ”national emergency” exists at the border?

While Trump and his White House team continue to offer alarming figures of invaders pouring in over the southern border, thereby necessitating a wall, his critics have called many of the statements to be misleading or downright false. After Vice President Mike Pence asserted that nearly 4,000 “terrorists” were caught trying to enter the U.S. last year, CNN reported that “the truth is just 12 individuals who are not US citizens and are on the terror watch list were encountered on the southern border between October 2017 and October 2018. The vast majority tried to enter through airports.”

What do Republicans think of Trump’s “emergency” and his threats to shut down the border completely?

The Republicans are divided: Politico reports that “Republican support for an emergency declaration is growing in some corners of the party, as GOP leaders and White House officials view it as a way out of a shutdown fight they’re losing.” The story goes on to say that others are not convinced that a crisis truly exists at the border and feel that the president’s threats are “the kind of end-run around Congress that the Republican Party harshly criticized Barack Obama for doing.”

Patrick May is an award-winning writer for the Bay Area News Group working with the business desk as a general assignment reporter. Over his 34 years in daily newspapers, he has traveled overseas and around the nation, covering wars and natural disasters, writing both breaking news stories and human-interest features. He has won numerous national and regional writing awards during his years as a reporter, 17 of them spent at the Miami Herald.

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